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Caroline!
Lookit! New American Girl debut! Meet Caroline. A few things up front. If you're like me and want to read the books, they're available already on Kindle and Nook. I'm waiting til Friday when I have money to actually buy the books themselves, but that's only because I'm flat broke. Otherwise? I'd probably have bought the ebooks. (Usually AG makes you wait a few weeks til the new stuff is available, so I thought this was noteworthy.)
Onward. I've already shared my dislike for the stock photos of Caroline herself, so we're going to focus our attention mostly on the stuff that either prompts a recoil in horror or a "must buy!" reaction. Links will be provided for those who want to look and shriek at the other things.
Caroline herself as well as her accessories. Get them both at the same time and it's $124, saving you $5. I'm still really only interested in her outfit, so we'll just move along.
Caroline's Holiday Gown: $36
This pretty much trips my DNW wire. Doll gloves usually look weird (check), I loathe purple and red together (check), and I get wallpaper vibes from the look in general. I'm not calling for anyone's head because this is not my time period of expertise (I don't have one) but this doesn't really do anything for me beyond making me wince at the color combination.
Included? Hairband made of hair.
The one thing I do like is the buckle:
Caroline's Travel Outfit : $28
I... actually like this more than I thought I would. Originally I wrote it off as nothing interesting based on the boat picture, but I'm thinking that this one will find it's way home with me sooner or later. I'm just going to wait for someone to put it on Cecile or Ruthie. *rubs hands together with glee*
Also shown with her Spencer & Hat : $24 Yay for the hat, boo for the unfortunate shape this gives poor Caroline. And Caroline's Travel Basket : $32 which costs more than an outfit. *cough* But the food isn't clumped, so that's a step forward, AG. Well played! But all together the look just kind of screams "noooooooooo" to me. Funny how that works.
Caroline's Winter Coat & Ice Skating Set
Coat & Cap is $32 and I'm actually kind of loving it, price be damned. I have a soft spot for coats in general, but I'm usually pretty picky since I don't live in a place that requires them. :P
Ice Skating Set is $22 and includes boots, skates, and mittens. If we still had a bird bath that froze in the winter, I'd probably be all over this. As it is, I like the boots... but I don't know if the set will follow me home any time soon.
Caroline's Birthday Dress : $28
Has gotten panned pretty universally since people got their preorders sent out. I'm not sure if it's deserving of the ire or if it's simply that of the three outfits that people knew were coming out (this, the travel gown, and the Meet outfit) this was the favorite, so expectations were higher. I still think it's quite lovely, but I now worry it'll be like Elizabeth's tea dress that irks me to no end. (People are irked that the design is a decal and not embroidered though they do admit that if were, it'd cost even more. Also some have made comments about the fabric.)
Caroline's Nightgown : $24
The shoes are weird. Nightgowns should come with slippers. These are shoes. The single bow is also a little weird, but I love the ribbon woven through the lace (I'm a sucker for that) so... this is going to come home. It's sitting in my imaginary Caroline cart right now, actually. (This is a HORRIBLE picture. Whoa.)
Caroline's Parlor Price? Too friggin' much.
I'm torn. On the one hand, this is brilliant. On the other hand, it's also eleventy-billion dollars and I just can't cough that much up, so I'm hoping they put this bugger on sale. But I also want it to do well. Torn, I say. Seriously though, fucking expensive. But awesome. ;__; The shelves are useful for storing little bits, the window seat pops up for more storage, the mirror is also a painting, and the window scene can be changed back and forth between good day/bad day, or you could make your own scene.
Caroline's Bed : $125 No room at the inn, nor is it really screaming to me.
Caroline's Table/Chairs & Party set
Table is $140 and the dishes are $68. The dishes are metal and... stuff. *shrug* Not really singing to me and at that price they'd better have a choreographed dance number to get my attention. :P The table is cute, but I've got Felicity's table & chairs and I think they're prettier.
Inkpot $22 Mew.
About the only thing not shown is the boat.
Overall, I think her collection is actually very well done. Not sure how it is in person, but given the fact that most of it's been reviewed various places and the pictures don't make me run for the hills, I'm going to applaud the whole thing. I'm still not interested in the doll or her boat, but that wasn't likely to change anyway.
I do get a bit of a kick that people are calling this a return to the Pleasant Company model (I'd have to read the books, but I will admit that it seems more cohesive than the poor NOLA girls' collection does) of how to do a release, only with more expensive pieces. Truthfully that would also be a call back to the PC days. It just gives me the giggles that Mattel has gone out of their way to do things differently only to circle back and see if maybe what worked then will work now with a bit of an update.
Some time later we'll discuss the new holiday dress I've fallen in love with, as well as the other new MyAG stuff.
Btw, I can see why Felicity was offed instead of Molly. You couldn't really justify Felicity/Elizabeth in the same lineup as Caroline, particularly since Lyssie herself wasn't that great of a seller. Caroline is essentially a blonder classic mold Elizabeth with Wakefield eyes. Throw Felicity and Elizabeth in a blender and this would pop out.
Onward. I've already shared my dislike for the stock photos of Caroline herself, so we're going to focus our attention mostly on the stuff that either prompts a recoil in horror or a "must buy!" reaction. Links will be provided for those who want to look and shriek at the other things.
Caroline herself as well as her accessories. Get them both at the same time and it's $124, saving you $5. I'm still really only interested in her outfit, so we'll just move along.
Caroline's Holiday Gown: $36
This pretty much trips my DNW wire. Doll gloves usually look weird (check), I loathe purple and red together (check), and I get wallpaper vibes from the look in general. I'm not calling for anyone's head because this is not my time period of expertise (I don't have one) but this doesn't really do anything for me beyond making me wince at the color combination.
Included? Hairband made of hair.
The one thing I do like is the buckle:
Caroline's Travel Outfit : $28
I... actually like this more than I thought I would. Originally I wrote it off as nothing interesting based on the boat picture, but I'm thinking that this one will find it's way home with me sooner or later. I'm just going to wait for someone to put it on Cecile or Ruthie. *rubs hands together with glee*
Also shown with her Spencer & Hat : $24 Yay for the hat, boo for the unfortunate shape this gives poor Caroline. And Caroline's Travel Basket : $32 which costs more than an outfit. *cough* But the food isn't clumped, so that's a step forward, AG. Well played! But all together the look just kind of screams "noooooooooo" to me. Funny how that works.
Caroline's Winter Coat & Ice Skating Set
Coat & Cap is $32 and I'm actually kind of loving it, price be damned. I have a soft spot for coats in general, but I'm usually pretty picky since I don't live in a place that requires them. :P
Ice Skating Set is $22 and includes boots, skates, and mittens. If we still had a bird bath that froze in the winter, I'd probably be all over this. As it is, I like the boots... but I don't know if the set will follow me home any time soon.
Caroline's Birthday Dress : $28
Has gotten panned pretty universally since people got their preorders sent out. I'm not sure if it's deserving of the ire or if it's simply that of the three outfits that people knew were coming out (this, the travel gown, and the Meet outfit) this was the favorite, so expectations were higher. I still think it's quite lovely, but I now worry it'll be like Elizabeth's tea dress that irks me to no end. (People are irked that the design is a decal and not embroidered though they do admit that if were, it'd cost even more. Also some have made comments about the fabric.)
Caroline's Nightgown : $24
The shoes are weird. Nightgowns should come with slippers. These are shoes. The single bow is also a little weird, but I love the ribbon woven through the lace (I'm a sucker for that) so... this is going to come home. It's sitting in my imaginary Caroline cart right now, actually. (This is a HORRIBLE picture. Whoa.)
Caroline's Parlor Price? Too friggin' much.
I'm torn. On the one hand, this is brilliant. On the other hand, it's also eleventy-billion dollars and I just can't cough that much up, so I'm hoping they put this bugger on sale. But I also want it to do well. Torn, I say. Seriously though, fucking expensive. But awesome. ;__; The shelves are useful for storing little bits, the window seat pops up for more storage, the mirror is also a painting, and the window scene can be changed back and forth between good day/bad day, or you could make your own scene.
Caroline's Bed : $125 No room at the inn, nor is it really screaming to me.
Caroline's Table/Chairs & Party set
Table is $140 and the dishes are $68. The dishes are metal and... stuff. *shrug* Not really singing to me and at that price they'd better have a choreographed dance number to get my attention. :P The table is cute, but I've got Felicity's table & chairs and I think they're prettier.
Inkpot $22 Mew.
About the only thing not shown is the boat.
Overall, I think her collection is actually very well done. Not sure how it is in person, but given the fact that most of it's been reviewed various places and the pictures don't make me run for the hills, I'm going to applaud the whole thing. I'm still not interested in the doll or her boat, but that wasn't likely to change anyway.
I do get a bit of a kick that people are calling this a return to the Pleasant Company model (I'd have to read the books, but I will admit that it seems more cohesive than the poor NOLA girls' collection does) of how to do a release, only with more expensive pieces. Truthfully that would also be a call back to the PC days. It just gives me the giggles that Mattel has gone out of their way to do things differently only to circle back and see if maybe what worked then will work now with a bit of an update.
Some time later we'll discuss the new holiday dress I've fallen in love with, as well as the other new MyAG stuff.
Btw, I can see why Felicity was offed instead of Molly. You couldn't really justify Felicity/Elizabeth in the same lineup as Caroline, particularly since Lyssie herself wasn't that great of a seller. Caroline is essentially a blonder classic mold Elizabeth with Wakefield eyes. Throw Felicity and Elizabeth in a blender and this would pop out.
no subject
I collect the book box sets (but I'm still missing Kaya, Molly, Cecile, and obviously Caroline) but I don't have any of the dolls because they're too expensive and I don't have any room to showcase them.
I'm torn about Caroline. On the one hand I'm glad to see another new girl introduced (that's always exciting for me) but on the other it's another blond haired, blue eyed white girl. Doesn't AG have enough of those?? Where's the Asian American Girl? Or the Indian girl (from India)? Or the Muslim girl? There's lots of other potential characters waiting to be created and we just get another white girl. Boo.
no subject
I'm slowly acquiring the book sets as I love them, even when I don't actually love the character as much. (I'm not overly fond of Rebecca.) I don't really have the space for the dolls and their stuff, but I seem to have amassed a small army of them anyway. Toys plus books? Total downfall of me.
I gather Cecile and Marie-Grace are a disappointment for Mattel, saleswise, so it appears that Caroline is pretty much primed to be exactly what would sell to little girls (and not so little girls) in the form of super blond! She does have a new eye color which is something going for her in terms of being different.
I wonder if maybe they'll alternate between 'sure' things and more interesting/unusual choices to soften the potential financial blow.
I wish they'd made Ivy the historical for the 70's. As it is, she was the only best friend to have to wait for years to get anything beyond her one additional outfit. Everyone else came out with at least two right off the bat. Justice for Ivy! [/random rant of insanity]